Tricky arrived when I was at university, and nobody else sounded like him.
Overcome goes right back to those days for me, and it’s been in heavy rotation ever since. He had a massive influence on me, and I’ve still got a lot of love for his music.
We overcome in 60 seconds with the strength we have together
Tricky, Overcome (1995)
Overcome was the third single from Maxinquaye, his debut album. 4th & Broadway, part of Island, released it in January 1995. That was a month before the album, and it reached number 34 in the UK. Martina Topley-Bird sings his words, and Tricky produced it with Mark Saunders.
A record you might have heard before
If the music sounds familiar, there’s a good reason. Overcome is Tricky’s own remake of Karmacoma, the Massive Attack track he rapped on with 3D, from their 1994 album Protection.
On his version the rap is gone. Martina sings his lyrics over the top, and he folds in a sample of Moonchild by Shakespears Sister. As a DJ I love that. Same bones. Completely different record.
Massive Attack is where Tricky came from. I wrote about another track from their side of the family in Be Thankful for What You’ve Got.
Stronger together
That line is what this record means to me. How do we overcome the hard stuff, especially when we unite with other people?
It’s a slow, heavy, hypnotic track, and it isn’t in any hurry. Put it on when you’ve got something tough to get through and people around you to get through it with.
So who was the artist who turned up sounding like nobody else, for you?
